Resumed, raised, and still a sub-1% payer. Expedia suspended the dividend in 2020, resumed it in February 2025 at $0.40 a quarter, and raised it 20% to $0.48 on February 12, 2026. Declared dividends of $200 million were 10.8% of fiscal 2025 free cash flow of $1,844 million, a pass, and net debt of $3,126 million is 1.7x EBITDA, a pass. The cautions are the 2020 suspension and the 0.67% trailing yield, under 1%, so the card is graded warn.
Key risk: Travel demand is cyclical and the dividend has only two years of post-suspension history — the next downturn tests whether the resumed payout holds.
Changes if: The trailing yield rises above 1% with the $0.48 rate held, or the dividend is cut or suspended again.
- ✓Cash-flow cover 10.8% of FY2025 free cash flow, pass (<60%).
- ✓Leverage 1.7x, pass (<3x).
- !Growth record Suspended 2020, resumed 2025, raised 2026 — resumed-payer caution; the suspension is over 5 years ago, so not a fail, but there is no long raise record yet.
- !Trap screen Yield 0.67%, under 1% — warn as a growth holding; no cut since resumption, payout under 100%.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.